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Wednesday, February 8, 2017

Industrial cabinet make over

You do not find metal drawer cabinets that often and when you do they can be quiet pricey! So when I found this one for under 20 bucks...even though it's drawers missing I snatched it up!

The Plan: Kitchen Storage

It was in nice somewhat clean shape. I used a mixture of rubbing alcohol and a Mr. clean sponge to get the heavy marks off and to sanitize the drawers...

IT worked beautifully !

The pen and sharpie marks are gone...the normal wear I am not that worried about.

I elected not to paint it because, I like the industrial color and could not think of another color I would rather have.

I now had to deal with the missing drawers. I thought about baskets or custom made slide in wooden drawers then it hit me. I have pets and am not as young as I used to be .."will I really use the lower drawers?" So a kick plate it was. I had some great aged scrap in the stash at the woman cave and asked Mr. RTI to help me measure and to cut it the size. I needed

To give the cabinet "balance" so I also added a piece of maple from my Dad's Shop for a top.

The next step was deciding what I was going to store in the cabinet. Spice?...utensils?..food?..ect?..ect?.

Since I have recently dedicated a drawer near my prep area to spices..

Mental note: This was one of the smartest things I have done in my kitchen. I saves steps time and makes putting spices back up so much more easy. I also added to this drawer a set of long handled measuring spoons that will reach in to every jar easily.

No not all jars are the same size or type however they all fit and I can see what I have at a glance. BIG TIME SAVER!

Now back to the cabinet.

Spices are taken care of so I elected to use the cabinet for utensils that I use however not every day and various kitchen items that fall under the same category.

To make it all easy to find I added labels to the label holders on the drawer to indicate what was in it. Yes this was tedious...and I kid you not I had to hang in there to finish. I struggled with this part of the project however it was worth the effort. Every thing can be found at a glace.

Here is the theory on the labels :

Not what the item is but what the item does. Ex. There is a drawer dedicated to "Grate" If it grates it is in the drawer...One to , "Strain" If it strains then it is in the drawer.

The empty Drawers I put blank labels on and will use the Ptouch to add them as I find uses for the drawers.

The top has a fruit bowl and basket for mail...and a great spot to rest a cool vintage pyrex refrigerator Dish.. I even added to a lower drawer Lysol to hit that trash can with and wipes to wipe it down when needed. Less steps and less time looking for what you need. A WIN WIN!